Apparatus for ice-making plants.



J. STEYNIS.

APPARATUS FOR 10E MAKING PLANTS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24, 1911.

Patqntd July 29, 1913.

Plants, of which the'followin TE STATES 1' JAN STEYNTIS, OF NEW YORK, N.'Y., ASSIGNOR'TO STEYNIS OZONE COMPANY, A

. CORPORATION" OF NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR ICE-MAKING PEANTS.-

ipecificationiof Letterslatent.

' Application filed November 24, 1911. Serial No. 662,094.

Be it known that I, JAN S'rnYms, a subject of theQueen of theNetherlands, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Ice-Makingg is a clear and complete disclosure.

My invention relates to ice making plants adapted to make what is knownto the trade as can ice. In plants of this kind heretofore constructedit has been customary to provide a freezing or refrigerating tank.

containing a plurality of cans with means for forcing compressed air.upthrough the water in the cans while undergoing freezing. The compressedvairrhas usually been suppliedby an air compressor or pump of any usualconstruction. and a separate pump has usually been provided to create avacuum for use in drawing off the impure water which collects at thecenter of the block after the larger portion of the water'has frozen.

' One-object of my invention is to so ar range and construct a system ofthis kind that a single pump may be used for supplying .the necessarycompressed air and; for

creatinga vacuum which may be used in drawing oft the impure water.Further objects of my invention are to provide means for, sterilizingthe water while undergoing freezing; to simplifythe apparatus; and to soarrange-the diflerentparts that less attendance will be necessary thanhas heretofore been required.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be obvious from thefollowing specification.

In the drawing accompanying and form: ing a part ofthis specification Ihave illustrated the preferred construction and arrangement .of myimproved apparatus.

In. this drawing Figure 1 is a side elevation of that portion of an icemaking plant with which my. improvements are concerned.

,Fig -2.is an end elevation of the freezing tank shown in Fig. 1.

-Referring in detail to the apparatus shown in this .drawing,..numeral.1 designates a freezing tank containing a plurality of cans 2. Thesecans are: arranged in rows in the usual way and above and at the sideofeach row there is provided a compressed air. main, 3, having apluralityof removable extensions 4:, one of which is arranged to extenddown into each of .the cans so as-to force compressed air through theWater while undergoing freezing. .The compressed air, when so supplied,bubbles up through the water undergoing freezing and causes the coarserimpurities to accumulate at the center of the block. One of the cans isshown broken away'with the watertherein .frozen except at the center.The cake or block is in condition to have the impure water atthe centerremoved and the resulting cavity filled with pure water prior tocompleting the block- The compressed air mains 3, above referred to,pass through a drying chamber 5, which may be of any well-knownconstruction. 'The function of this drying chamber is toremove moisturefrom the compressed air-in order that the samemay not. be deposited andaccumulate as frost in the pipes 3 and extensions 4. The numeral 6designates a single acting pump, the.delivery side of which is connectedto the compressed air mains 3. The intake side of the pump communicatesthrough a conduit 7 .with a vacuum tank 8. A suction main 9 opens intothe top of the tank 8 and the water discharge conduit 10 is connected tothe lower side of this tank. A springpressed check valve -11 is placedin the water discharge pipe and is so adjusted that with the. requiredvacuum in the tank v8, the weightof the water in the conduit 10', whenit has reached a predetermined height, will open-the check valve 11 andallow'the water to automatically escape as it is discharged PatentedJuly29gi9t3.

is admitted at an opening, 14, and allowed to travel downwardly in thetower, which is 'filled with pebbles or similar material and ozonized isbrought in contact with ozone or air introduced at an opening 15. Inpractice it is found that after the ozone has passed up through thesterilizing tower there is still left a considerable percentage ofuseful ozone and according to my present invention this useful ozone isdrawn into a conduit-15 which opens through the springpressed andadjustable valve 16 into the conduit 7, connected with the intake sideof the pump. The ozone conduit 15* is provided with an air intake 17through which any shortage of air necessary for the system may besupplied.

The numeral 18 designates a pipe or conduit for supplying sterilizedwater to the cans and can be used for filling the cans and for supplyingpure water to'fill the cores.

With the apparatus as above constructed and arranged, the operation isas follows: The cans are filled with sterilized water by means of thehose 19 connected with the conduitv 18 and the pump 6 is put inoperation so as to force compressed air sterilized by an admixture ofozone through the water in the tanks while undergoing freezing. Dhe pumpalso creates a vacuum in the tank 8 WhlCll is employed as soon as thewater in any of the cans is frozen to draw off the impure water at thecenter of the block. The lmpure core water is drawn through the ma n orconduit 9 into the tank 8, from which it flows by gravity into the pipe.10 and is discharged. The valve 16 is ad usted so that the pump will atall times maintain the required vacuum in the tank 8. This vacuum neednot be high, a vacuum of 4 or 5 lbs. being. sufficient. In the practicaloperation of a plant of this kind, the cans individually or in groupsare filled and frozen in rotation, therefore the pump 6 may be keptconstantly in operation. The operator I periodically fills each tank orgroup of tanks with water, draws off the resultant impure water at thecenter of the blocks as they freeze, fills the cavities with pure waterandremoves the blocks. The ozonized-air sup-- plied by the ccmpressornot only causes the coarser impurities to collect at the center of theblock by agitating the.water but also sterilizes the water whileundergoing freezing an d insures thedestruction of any organicimpurities should there be such in the water after having passed throughthe filter 13. Since only a small vacuum is required a small orce the.ozonized air throu h the water in the cans,

to remove the impure water and only amount of pressure is required to asingle pump can e usedfor both purposes when arranged in the manner:described above. When so used it cheapens the initial cost of theapparatus and requires less attention than would 'two" separate pumpswhen used for performing these functions.

Any suitable apparatus and method for producing ozone may be used inconnection with the apparatus above described, though I prefer to usethe apparatus and method described in my Patents Nos. 924,592 and906,081.

The construction of the sterilizing tower 13 forms no part of my presentinvention and I therefore have not described the construction of thisdevice. There are now numerous well-known devices of this kind and anyof them may be used in practising my invention.

While I have illustrated and described only one arrangement of myimproved apparatus, I am aware that this arrangement and the detailsthereofmay be varied by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe scope of my claims.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. In apparatus of the kind described, a suction main, a vacuum chamberconnected with said main and a downwardly extending gravity actuatedwater discharge pipe leading from said vacuum chamber, having a checkvalve therein, substantially as described. Y

2. In apparatus of the kind described,,a freezing tank containing aplurality of cans, a compressed air main with branches extending intosaid cans, an ozone sterilizing tower, a pump connected.with saidcompressed air main, an ozone discharge conduit leading from said towerand communicating with the intake side of said pump and having an airinlet therein and a suctionmain connected with the intake side of saidpump, substantially as described.

3. In apparatus ofthe kind described, a freezing tank containing aplurallty of cans, a compressed air main wlth branches extendingintosaid cans, an ozone sterilizing tower, a pump connected with saidcompressed air main, an ozone discharge condult leading from said towerand communicating with the intake side of said pump and haying an airinlet therein and a suction main communicating with a vacuum chamber andconnected to the intake side of said pump,

substantially as described.

4. In a system of freezing tank containing a an ozone tower, apump, anozone condult with an air intake therein leading from said towerto saidpump and a conduit with-extensions leading from said pump to said cans,substantially as described.

5. In an apparatus of the kind described, comprising a freezing tankwith a plurality of cans in said tank, a pump adapted to deplurality ofcans,

the kind described, a

liver compressed air to said cans, a vacuum Signed at New York, StateofNew York,

chamber connected with the intake side of this 23rd day of November1911.

said pump and communicating through w JANSTEYNIS.

suction main with a hose adapted to remove Witnesses: 5 impure waterfrom said cans, substantially WALTER S. JONES,

as described. R. M. RICKETTS.

